A new way to play | Toca Bocahttp://tocaboca.com/
Toca Boca is an award-winning play studio that makes digital apps for kids. Our apps encourage creativity without in-app purchases or third-party ads.Fri, 31 Jul 2015 20:20:23 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.0Has your kid said “I’m bored” yet this summer?http://tocaboca.com/magazine/summer-free-play/
http://tocaboca.com/magazine/summer-free-play/#commentsFri, 31 Jul 2015 20:20:23 +0000http://tocaboca.com/?p=11671Sort of like the old adage about life with toddlers — “The days are long, but the years are short” — long summer days fill up quickly with trips, appointments you’ve put off during the school year and fun camps, and before you know it, summer break is half over!

These longer days without normal commitments can make some parents anxious, worried what kids will do all day, and in these days of “Pinterest parenting,” it’s easy to feel like you should have a perfectly coordinated (and photo-worthy) day planned for your kids. But in reality, long stretches of free time make excellent incubators for creativity and problem-solving. Kids need unstructured play time to develop resilience and learn social skills. Summer is the perfect time for kids to play, and there’s nothing parents need to do — besides get out of the way and let it happen.

Have your kids had the opportunity to mutter the ubiquitous, yet important, summer refrain, “I’m bored!” yet? If schedules have been a bit harried or the screens have been glowing more than you’d like, there’s still enough summer left to step back and let free play ring.

Give kids some free time to practice new skills they’ve learned at camps or to immerse themselves in a hobby. Let them roam the neighborhood or explore nature. The benefits of play for the whole child are just as important as academics for kids — even more, experts like Peter Gray argue. Give kids the time and the freedom to play this summer. It’s important!

]]>http://tocaboca.com/magazine/summer-free-play/feed/0Spinning, Swinging, Sliding and Sand: The Many Benefits of Playground Playhttp://tocaboca.com/magazine/benefits-playground-play/
http://tocaboca.com/magazine/benefits-playground-play/#commentsTue, 28 Jul 2015 15:00:00 +0000http://tocaboca.com/?p=11649Playgrounds go with kids like roads go with cars — they were made for them!

Just as with free play, playing on playgrounds is a lot more than rambunctious fun, though. Kids gain social skills through figuring out how to interact with and share space with other kids. They develop resilience through mastering new skills. Add a playground to kids’ play, and the benefits of play get even more physical. Kids get healthy Vitamin D from time in the sun, and they’ll burn energy and build muscles being active.

So much more than meets the eye

It turns out that those fun playground activities — like spinning, climbing, swinging and sliding — trigger important body systems to develop and function properly. Playground moves build gross and fine motor skills, along with core strength. They enhance the vestibular system — the sensory system that helps with balance and coordination — and develop proprioception, or body awareness.

These systems help kids maneuver the world around them as well as their own emotions when dealing with the environment and sensory input. Kids with sensory issues may need the help of physical or occupational therapist to focus more specifically on these areas, but neurotypical kids can still benefit from access to playing this way — and most probably do it on their own if given access to the equipment.

Excellent sensory experiences, therapists say

Physical therapist Kizmi Olson, MSPT, works to introduce kids in physical therapy to new sensory inputs — like water, sand, sounds — but also keep it fun. “Playgrounds are great,” she said, “because they’re fun and allow kids to get the sensory interactions they need. The motivation to play is high, so parents don’t have to feel like they are making kids do exercises.” Her three favorite playground activities for kids are slides, swings and sand pits.

Playgrounds are a sensory smorgasbord, too, providing kids with input to stimulate their senses, which helps kids learn to regulate themselves, Jennifer Philbrook, MS, OTR said. “Playground play gives kids such great input to calm themselves, organize their bodies and minds, and to facilitate just right levels of alertness all while playing!” she said. “They get to touch a variety of textures from the smooth metal of the equipment to the feel of the grass or mulch that sits under the playground equipment. They can swing, spin or rock to get vestibular input; or jump, hang, or climb for proprioceptive input.”

Benefits of playground equipment

Just take a look around the typical playground for a fun way to help kids grow and develop through play.

Slide. Kids have to climb up to the slide, building coordination and developing strength in their arms and legs. Then they get increased vestibular involvement sliding down the slide.

Swings. Swinging enhances the vestibular system and builds core strength holding onto the swing. The swings help relax an overstimulated child since they have a calming effect, Olson said.

Sand pit.Playing with sand helps with sensory integration and fine motor skills as kids dig and pile and grab the sand. It also improves balance when kids walk on the uneven terrain. Sand pits that have construction-style diggers help kids develop upper body strength and coordination while digging.

Monkey bars. Hanging from bars strengthens hands and fingers, which helps with handwriting skills. Any grasping activity is useful — from the pretend steering wheels atop some play structures to raising and lowering something on a rope.

To maximize the benefits of unstructured play, parents may have to consciously resist interfering, letting kids figure out how to get themselves out of challenging situations (an important life skill). If they were able to climb up somewhere unassisted, they should be able to get themselves down safely. Don’t feel pressured to create a curriculum for playground time, though. Let kids play and rest assured that what they are doing is important work.

]]>http://tocaboca.com/magazine/benefits-playground-play/feed/05 Ways You Can Support Your Kid’s Passionshttp://tocaboca.com/magazine/kid-passion-tips/
http://tocaboca.com/magazine/kid-passion-tips/#commentsFri, 24 Jul 2015 18:15:59 +0000http://tocaboca.com/?p=11597Here are a few things that parents can do to promote healthy interests, passion and engagement.

1. Let your children find their own passions. Expose them to many opportunities by doing, watching and reading. Visit libraries, museums and historical locations where they can learn about people who were creators, inventors, leaders and hard workers.

2. Introduce them to people who have an expertise. Find friends and family who truly love their work or their hobbies. Help your child see what someone does in order to pursue a hobby. This could be as simple as taking your child to a friend’s home to see his vegetable garden or as complex as visiting a museum to check out a collection of great artwork from a specific artist.

3. Become familiar with the biographies of famous people and their expertise. For example, read biographies or watch documentaries about U.S. presidents, Nobel Prize winners, great athletes or famous musicians. Help your child to see how these individuals pursued an interest and how they became prominent in their fields.

4. Ensure that your child’s interest is expandable and flexible. Help make her interests multimodal by finding other toys, books, videos, real-life examples and educational opportunities to expand upon the passion. Don’t let the interest become too narrow. Help her to see how this particular interest can be connected to other parts of the world.

5. Model your own intense interest. If you don’t already have a hobby or a passion, find one that fits you. If necessary, try a few that meet your needs today and can be cultivated when you are not spending all of your time parenting, working and just keeping up with daily life.

When he was 11, he was really into making websites. “A lot of people actively discouraged me from spending so much time on the computer,” he told Toca Magazine. “I wonder if I would have gotten the same level of discouragement if adults in my life had understood how those skills would later become invaluable to a massive industry, an economy-changing industry.”

Fast-forward a couple of decades. Zach — who went from that 11-year-old kid making websites to co-founder of Vimeo — has another passion: Helping kids today explore their own passions. Toca Magazine talked with Zach about DIY and kids’ passions.

Toca Magazine: Kids on DIY are able to connect with other kids who share their passions. What’s that like for them?

Zach: For a lot of these kids, it’s the first time that they’ve ever participated in an open social environment online, and it’s really exciting simply to meet other people that live elsewhere that share their passions. They just feel connected where they might otherwise feel alone in their passions wherever they live.

Toca Magazine: So some kids aren’t getting the support for their passions in their own communities — something you could relate to as a kid. Why is that?

Zach: I see a lot of latent potential in kid passions, and I think too much of childhood and too much of traditional schooling is discouraging those passions and trying to get kids excited about the adult world and “practical things.”

Zach: There’s a huge debate about whether we should love or hate Minecraft. Obviously there’s something middle of the road, like: It is true that kids could be spending too much time on screen, but … what will be possible in the world now that an entire generation knows how to model in three dimensions? That’s a skill that no previous generation has ever had. What sort of art, what sort of communication, what sort of architecture, what sort of business will now be possible because an entire population has this skill?

We can’t predict it, and rather than trying to discourage it, we are more interested in trying to figure out how to help kids find the potential for it.

]]>http://tocaboca.com/magazine/diy-kid-passions/feed/0Is Your Kid’s Intense Interest in One Topic Something to Worry About?http://tocaboca.com/magazine/kid-obsessions/
http://tocaboca.com/magazine/kid-obsessions/#commentsTue, 21 Jul 2015 20:53:57 +0000http://tocaboca.com/?p=11572Does your child want to spend all of her time playing Minecraft or singing songs from Frozen? Parents frequently observe their kids becoming very involved in an interest, sometimes becoming an expert with seemingly endless knowledge about their favorite topics or activities. It is common to see a 4-year-old who appears to have a degree in paleontology because he knows so much about dinosaurs or an 11-year-old who must be planning on a career as a music critic because she is so up to date on the latest information about One Direction and Taylor Swift.

One of the most common “obsessions” for kids in 2015 (and 2012, 2013, and 2014) has been the video game Minecraft. When examining their kids’ infatuation with Minecraft, many parents wonder if the intensity of their interest might be harmful or reflect some underlying psychiatric issue. For the vast majority of kids, these passionate pursuits are healthy aspects of a curious and engaged approach to their world.

Opportunity to learn and explore

Many kids have particular areas of interest that keep their minds active and reflect a desire to learn more about something. Whether it be American Girl dolls, horses, video games, LEGO or sharks, there is ample opportunity for learning and exploration. When a kid’s passion is popular among her peers, it provides a chance to share experiences and interaction. It also allows a child to share an expertise that is often valued by peers or adults.

Minecraft is a great example of an interest that is easy to overdo but also to share with others. Many parents are concerned that their child’s overzealous focus on Minecraft minimizes their interests in other activities. Their fascination with Minecraft can also have an impact on friendships, because Minecraft may become the primary topic they want to talk about. Fortunately, because Minecraft is so incredibly popular, your child is likely to have many friends to choose from who are involved in this relatively wholesome activity.

Many parents are concerned that their child’s overzealous focus on Minecraft minimizes their interests in other activities.

When intense interests become problematic

Intense interests can occasionally become obsessions and problematic for a child. One way to determine if your kid’s intense interest is problematic is to examine whether it is restricting her in social relationships, interfering with her performance at school, diminishing her interest and energy for all other activities, or isolating her from others. If she is inflexible in her willingness to participate in other activities and seems to lack the ability to have fun when she is not allowed to pursue her passion, it is time to act. However for the most part, these intense interests have many positive features that can serve your child well in the present and in the future.

I generally do not suggest worrying too much about this issue. While Minecraft may be the focus of your child’s recreational life now, it is likely to change over the next few years. Many well-adjusted kids get consumed by an interest in which they develop an expertise. Kids with these interests do research, become emotionally and cognitively engaged, recognize what it takes to become an expert and display persistence in pursuing their passion. The vast majority of these kids switch to something different within a few years.

For example, as a psychologist I have worked with many children who have transitioned from their intense interest in Minecraft, Yu-Gi-Oh cards or Pokémon into a more mature and well-rounded set of interests. Many of the kids I have worked with who appeared to be consumed by Minecraft are now interested in creating videos; learning to code; or involved in playing games such as Terraria, Survivalcraft and Clash of Clans. As they got older, many of these children have taken their interest in Minecraft and transformed it into a more global expertise with technology and digital media.

Many of the kids I have worked with who appeared to be consumed by Minecraft are now interested in creating videos (or) learning to code.

Dinos, princesses and horses are common interests — but why?

When kids are younger they tend to develop intense interests in a natural way, often finding something that fits their personality such as the building and creativity observed in LEGO play or the nurturance and socialization in playing house or school. They may also have an older sibling with a similar interest.

There appear to be some archetypal interests that are frequently shared by younger children. I have worked with hundreds of boys who were fascinated by dinosaurs or some form of weapons. Perhaps these interests involve issues of power, fierceness, and control. Girls who have a fascination with princesses and horses may reflect themes of beauty and authority. Most kids who develop an intense interest tend to do it on their own. Parents who attempt to push an interest on a child frequently meet with resistance and ultimately with rejection.

For example, many parents have attempted to get their child interested in playing a musical instrument or a sport, only to be disappointed a few months later when the child did not display any desire to pursue this interest on her own. It may be better to introduce a child to an interest and let her get a taste of it, then she may come back to this interest on her own when she is ready.

Benefits include practice, focus and persistence

One of the benefits of having an intense interest is that it promotes skills such as practice, sustained focus and persistence — attributes that are incredibly powerful for a child’s success in school and in the world of work. An intense interest could also contribute to a sense of positive self-esteem and self-efficacy. People tend to feel good about themselves when they really put their effort into something and receive external praise for their accomplishments.

For the most part, I encourage parents to let kids pursue their passions and interests. Sometimes these early interests can portend a future passion and a willingness to put forth the intense effort necessary to become experts in their professions or to have a lifelong hobbies that brings them great pleasure.

]]>http://tocaboca.com/magazine/kid-obsessions/feed/0Worried Minecraft Is Turning Your Kid Into a Zombie? You Shouldn’thttp://tocaboca.com/magazine/minecraft-screen-time/
http://tocaboca.com/magazine/minecraft-screen-time/#commentsSun, 19 Jul 2015 06:08:36 +0000http://tocaboca.com/?p=8796When we talk about being in “the zone” or a state of flow, we tend to think of it in terms of athletes or adults and the workplace. But kids are easily engrossed as well, and when it comes to digital diversions the proliferation of sandbox games encourages that sense of losing track of time. Sandbox games are less like video games and more like a digital mash-up of traditional toys like Colorforms, Lincoln Logs, Little People and LEGO. The most popular of such titles is Minecraft, but there are an ever-growing number of options for kids and adults of all ages and skill levels.

Lately parents, developmental experts and educators are finding good reasons to occasionally suspend their regular rules about screen time as it applies to TV and video games, when kids are benefitting from being in a state of flow while crafting a realm or creature straight out of their imaginations.

Current thinking suggests that for both adults and children being in a state of flow is conducive to learning and creativity. Flow is that ephemeral endless moment when a book holds you captive, or you start work on a project at 9 a.m. and look up startled to find it’s after 5 p.m., you forgot to eat lunch and you’ve done way more than you thought possible in one day. It’s only when we lose ourselves in the trivial or passive that flow is unproductive. When the right diversion commands all our attention there are benefits.

I’m not suggesting that every time your child wants to jump into an immersive imaginary world in two or three dimensions that they be encouraged to do so at the expense of regular routine or other forms of learning and play.

I do suggest, however, that if you notice that your kid is particularly absorbed, being flexible to allow her thoughts and energy to reach their natural conclusion can yield unexpected benefits including better problem solving skills and increased ability to work toward complex goals. Sandbox games also appeal to creative adults as much as to kids. The time when one captivates your kid is an ideal opportunity to not just supervise screen time, but to join your child in their rich fantasy landscapes.

“There are both pros and cons with kids becoming engrossed in these games, but I believe at this point the benefits in most cases outnumber the drawbacks,” said Brad Spirrison, managing editor of Appolicious and appoLearning. “For a game like Minecraft in particular, the teachers I work with at appoLearning cite the spatial reasoning and critical-thinking skills that can be developed and refined while creating new worlds.”

The next time your kid seems to be staring at a screen for too long, take a quick peek at both what they are doing and what state of mind he’s in. If you think he’s in a creative positive “zone” it might be a good idea for you to let him go with the flow.

]]>http://tocaboca.com/magazine/minecraft-screen-time/feed/0Loading My Kid’s iPhone for Sleepaway Camphttp://tocaboca.com/magazine/iphone-camp/
http://tocaboca.com/magazine/iphone-camp/#commentsThu, 16 Jul 2015 18:43:09 +0000http://tocaboca.com/?p=11511Sleepaway camp can be a difficult adjustment, so I’d like to share some specific ways I used an old iPhone without cellular connectivity to ease my introverted son’s transition. I loaded it with a variety of both what I hoped would be social icebreakers and what I was confident would be useful soothers of frayed nerves.

Social Buffers

Games

I allowed select video games ensuring he had a mix of popular titles at which he is very good but balanced those with digitized board and card games, especially pass-and-play titles like STRATEGERY.

I also made sure he had games that were hot or going to be, but that were not necessarily up his alley, so that other kids would have fun when they got a turn with the iPhone. That was the point — to begin with anyway. I wanted the iPhone to act as a metaphoric hot spot that drew console-and-cable-starved kids like a magnet.

Playlists

I also put together some music playlists for my son. I included songs I know he has always loved, family favorites and songs he’d picked on his own, but my son — being my son — didn’t have a single chart topper in his library. For headphone time his music was great, but I also went to a music streaming service that allows offline saving (Slacker Radio Premium is a great choice for this because once cached offline the playlists stay functional for a long time without needing refreshing). I downloaded and saved playlists of summer hits from pop, hip-hop and other genres neither he nor I would normally listen to but a lot of kids his age and a bit older would likely be listening to.

Geek Gear

That was the extent to which I saw the iPhone as a social buffer, but I was also aware that I could arm him with a battalion of geek gear and he would still be who he is — a kid who is fun and funny, creative and enjoyable to be with, but a kid who shies away from big groups, doesn’t like to participate in many core camp activities, and feels an overwhelming need for solitude after a day or more of nonstop social stimulation.

For that I used smartphone features that are available for almost all mobile platforms.

Photos

I used the photo album and loaded it up with pictures of home, family, pets, and even pictures of his room and his “stuff.”

Relaxation apps

Then I went to the app store and downloaded a couple of relaxation apps — one we used regularly to practice Pranayama (an Eastern breathing technique that eases stress and anxiety and promotes mental and physical health) — and an app that allows you to combine different ambient sounds like rain, a heart beat, a crackling fire or any other white noise, along with loops of soothing music to help him get to sleep or just decompress.

Notes for messages

I used the native Notes app to write him a bunch of messages. I wrote some generic messages just telling him how much I love and miss him, and telling him how proud he makes me. I also included notes for specific occasions and situations — one I titled “Read me on the worst day ever” and another “Read me on the best day ever” knowing he’d have several of both.

The key here was keeping the notes vague enough to fit any occasion yet specific enough so that he felt like I was speaking to him about something he is actively struggling with or celebrating. For example, one small Post-It-style note I left was simply “Remember, don’t judge your insides by other people’s outsides” to remind him there were other homesick kids besides him, some of whom just hid it better.

Voice Memo

I also made use of the Voice Memo feature, and at summer’s end my son told me that’s what helped him most. I owe my inspiration here to my late father. He used to make up these wonderful bedtime stories for my sister and me but he also traveled a lot for business. I don’t know exactly when he started doing it, but at some point he got into the habit of plugging a clunky old-school mic that screeched feedback as often as it recorded voices into his console-stereo and popping a shiny new cassette into the deck. Each night that he was away my sister and I would listen to that night’s installment.

He passed away shortly thereafter, but we still have copies of him not just telling us bedtime stories, but also messages just for us; for each night he was to be absent he would record something like “Today is Wednesday, and Lisa, I know you had a piano lesson so I hope it went well. Kiss your mom and sister for me.” I don’t have to tell you how those tapes became posthumous treasure, but long before that we loved having his voice with us when we were apart for even a few days.

I’m not a storyteller, but as you’ve likely noticed I’m a wordy girl, so I riffed on my father’s theme while looking at the camp calendar. If I knew something was going to happen like a canoe trip or theme day, I’d label a voice memo encouraging him to participate or asking him how it went. I made him voice recordings encouraging him to tough it out for homesick days, comforting him for hurt feelings and hurt body parts, and celebrating different types of successes.

Another year

As we head into our fourth year at the same camp my son’s expectations are aligned with the experience he’s going to have for worse and very much for better. His iPhone is still something he’s glad to have, but as he acclimates more each year he needs it — and my intervention — less and less.

]]>http://tocaboca.com/magazine/iphone-camp/feed/0Not Unplugged at Camp: My Kid Took an iPhone to Sleepaway Camp, and Here’s Whyhttp://tocaboca.com/magazine/not-unplugged-at-camp/
http://tocaboca.com/magazine/not-unplugged-at-camp/#commentsTue, 14 Jul 2015 19:37:50 +0000http://tocaboca.com/?p=11413My son, who will be entering sixth grade this fall, is heading off to his fourth summer at sleepaway camp. For the last few years, he’s been attending three-week sessions at a camp in the Laurentian Mountains north of Montreal, nestled into an idyllic little French-Canadian village. While he’s now a seasoned veteran eager to offer tips to new campers, when he went for the first summer I anticipated some hiccups.

It was the summer before my son’s ninth birthday when we decided to give sleepaway camp a try. Although he was content with hanging at our local pool for the summer, I wanted him to also have some structured recreation and a more social environment, as our suburb tends to be semi-abandoned during the summer months.

While convincing him with slideshows and YouTube videos of broadly smiling kids sporting tans despite layers of sunblock and rashguards, skimming behind speeding motor boats during “tubing,” learning to drive golf carts, and engaged in costumed theme days was easy, equipping him with the social skills he’d need to navigate this still-foreign environment wasn’t going to be so simple.

The challenges of an introverted kid

Be it nature or nurture, like both his parents my son is an introvert — quick with a smile and eager to make friends, but not altogether adept at it. His interests don’t run to “traditional” boy activities such that are venerated in suburbia and summer camps across the continent like soccer, hockey on a floor or ice rink, or, well, any organized sport really. He’d as soon play video games or make his own video in furtherance of his lifelong ambition to become a movie director and video game commentator.

Like his mom and his dad, my son is a dyed-in-the-wool geek — and we’re all proud of it. He has favored Doctor Who (a show he discovered with no parental prompting) to whatever airs on either regular or kid-centric TV since he’s been old enough to navigate Netflix, which is a skill one gleans early in my home; he would just as soon float away dreaming of new zombie-movie plots than participate in any swim race — even if swimming is his self-proclaimed favorite activity.

Like his mom and his dad, my son is a dyed-in-the-wool geek — and we’re all proud of it.

Tech as part of the solution

When selling the notion of camp I may have had time-warping goggles on, but when I thought back to my own experiences at similar camps at my son’s age and younger I knew I’d had a rough time adjusting. Year after year I’d attend for almost a full eight weeks — and reliably earn “most improved” camper at the awards dinner. Before you’re overly impressed note that depending on the year and camp that sometimes meant a momentous a climb from screaming and crying every day to only doing so twice a week.

But since everyone remarks on how much like me my son is, I tried to think about what would have helped way back in the 1970s when I was facing the same social hurdles, and use my experience and his strengths to help him have the best possible experience in this new millennium. I even knew tech was going to be part of the solution, but exactly what sort of tech, or even how to prepare him wasn’t as simple as sending him off with a Nintendo DS.

Camp’s flexibility with tech

First I have to credit the camp for being extraordinarily flexible, and its current director is also pretty tech savvy — enough that I have come to consider him a “Facebook friend.” I shared my concerns with him and inquired as to the camp’s policy regarding anything digital. He had already sussed out what I did for a living (since spamming those same Facebook friends is how I’ve acquired a quarter of my readership!) so I don’t think he was surprised when I asked if I could send my son with an iSomething.

In this case the camp’s policy was clear and predetermined, but before you use my story as a leaping off point for prepping your kid for camp, make sure you know your camp’s policy on same. For my son’s camp, iPads are verboten for campers as are iPhones or any smartphone with cellular connectivity. But an iPod touch was OK as long as I understood the odds of it returning home in even passable condition were more remote than the camp’s location. I got the OK to send an old iPhone without a SIM card, which is essentially the same thing. I loaded it with all sorts of stuff and used the device as social collateral leveraged against his having fun — and it worked!

Eagerly anticipating camp

That said, while my iPhone tricks helped in many ways, they certainly aren’t responsible for the eager anticipation he already feels for this upcoming summer. That I owe to an incredible camp and human nature. With each passing summer, as he rises in rank and gets a slightly later lights-out time, he feels more connected to the camp and by now the camp’s administration is well acquainted with him and his somewhat neurotic, if well intended mum.

My son has built a love for the place that will grow as his social skills and prefrontal cortex do. What are now still temporary friends will make way to Facebook friends (and friends wherever kids hide on social media and in real life where parents aren’t lurking) and all too soon taking the subway or driving across town to see friends won’t be a hurdle either. I’m confident he’ll continue to attend for many summers to come because like his school and our neighborhood pool on good days — and even on bad ones — his camp has become a home away from home, as it ought to be.

Would you send your kid to camp with a mobile device? On Thursday, find out what the author loaded her son’s iPhone with to help him get through homesickness and social awkwardness.

]]>http://tocaboca.com/magazine/not-unplugged-at-camp/feed/0DIY: A Place for Kids’ Creativity to Blossom as They Learn 21st-Century Skillshttp://tocaboca.com/magazine/diy-kids-creativity/
http://tocaboca.com/magazine/diy-kids-creativity/#commentsTue, 07 Jul 2015 16:00:00 +0000http://tocaboca.com/?p=11000At first glance, DIY seems like a cool place for kids to follow their passionsand learn skills in their areas of interest — and it definitely is that. But beyond that, embedded in this online-offline experience is the opportunity to learn perhaps less-obvious skills: Critical thinking. Communication. Creativity. It’s a model for learning 21st-century skills in a 21st-century environment.

Zach Klein

Zach Klein, DIY’s CEO — who also co-founded the video-sharing site Vimeo, was interested in “the potential for the Internet to allow people to learn from each other in order to make education more free and more available to more people.” He wanted to work specifically with kids, whose “fresh minds” weren’t already accustomed to the standard approach to education.

And DIY was born. With DIY’s website and app, kids learn 130+ skills, build expertise, share their work and earn patches. The breadth of skills — actor, entrepreneur, geneticist, jewelry designer, philosopher and more — means there’s something for every kid. DIY is the founding team’s fantasy platform “for what we wished we had when we were kids,” Klein said.

Bridging the online and offline worlds

One of DIY’s strengths is how it bridges the online and offline worlds in an authentic way. While kids go online to get started on their projects, they “go back out into the real world” to work on their projects, said Chalon Bridges, DIY’s director of learning and partnerships. “They come here, they get a challenge, and it asks them to go back and do something, and then record themselves and come back and share it. So it’s this interplay between the real world and online.”

Other ways real-world experiences play out are through the in-person workshops held at the DIY office in San Francisco, the grassroots DIY clubs that have sprung up around the world, and schools and school groups that want to incorporate DIY and its values into their classrooms. These experiences allow for different ways of collaborating, communicating and being creative.

Online Communities 101

For many of the 400,000+ kids on DIY, it’s their first experience in an online community. DIY has been intentional about creating a safe, supportive community where kids can learn from one another and offer positive, constructive interactions.

“We’ve given kids access to a lot of social features that you don’t find on kids’ websites for obvious reasons — there are safety and privacy concerns,” Klein said. “We’ve done all the legwork to make them as safe as possible.” Steps include obtaining verifiable parental consent, and parents get a dashboard where they can follow their kids’ progress and social activity.

But safety isn’t the only factor that goes into creating a positive online community for kids. Common Sense Media, which awarded DIY.org its On for Learning Award in 2014, said “the vibe of the DIY online community is supportive, creative and personal without being too much so.”

“At Vimeo,” Klein said, “we had two rules, which I shamelessly copied at DIY. Number 1: You can’t share anything that you haven’t made, and Number 2: You can’t be a jerk. And that’s the secret to our success. Having to make things keeps people honest … and ‘don’t be a jerk’ is just such a simple distillation of thousands of other rules that you could create to try to get someone to behave nicely. Kids get that.”

There’s no way for jerks to win

DIY doesn’t get a lot of jerks. “I’ve been blown away at how it’s not a problem, and when it is a problem it’s usually because the kid doesn’t know any better,” Klein said. “It’s because the kid is inexperienced at being social in a public environment and hasn’t learned manners or hasn’t learned traditions.”

When kids are unkind, it becomes an opportunity for education. “We usually write a comment in response to them, explaining why what they did isn’t acceptable in our community,” Klein said. The site offers guidelines and that help kids learn how to be good contributors to the community.

“It’s an economy that’s optimized for kindness,” Klein said. “You quickly figure out that you don’t succeed, you don’t make friends and you don’t achieve unless you have the support of the community behind you. Jerks just get bored quickly. There’s no way for them to win.”

In addition to software that analyzes the intent of comments, DIY has moderators, and a human looks at every project that’s uploaded. Anything that’s not original gets deleted.

“Having to upload something you’ve made instead of forwarding a crazy cat video that somebody else did changes the comments that come,” Bridges said. “You’re now commenting on somebody else’s work knowing that they might do the same on your work, and it just establishes a baseline of collegiality that doesn’t exist otherwise.”

It’s an economy that’s optimized for kindness.

The magic of creativity

Spend some time browsing the videos kids upload, and you’ll be amazed at the creativity that goes into their projects.“I think kids are capable of much more than we give them credit for,” Bridges said. “This framework of just giving them a challenge and then letting them bring their own creativity and curiosity to how they solve that challenge — it works.”

Bridges said the 500+ submissions DIY receives from kids around the world each day prove that point. “You don’t have to spend a lot of time teaching them how. You don’t have to hold their hands through the whole process. Just giving them inspiration and ideas and letting them run with it unleashes a lot of their creativity.”

Kids are capable of much more than we give them credit for.

Klein, who has a 1-year-old daughter, agrees. “I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a parent who hasn’t observed their kid playing and been taken aback by the exceptional creativity in that moment. There really is something special that happens to kids when they’re playing, and we’re trying to connect them to other people who want to play.”

It all comes back to the power of play

Klein considers play — although not unique to humans in the animal kingdom — a distinctly human superpower. “I think humans are really special creatures, and I think we’ve evolved to have a really special skill,” Klein said. “People are predisposed to play with each other. When we’re playing, we are in a state of absolute joy, and we are the most uninhibited and creative version of ourselves. We’re also very social, and it allows us to relate and achieve with each other in a way that we can’t do otherwise.”

When we’re playing, we are in a state of absolute joy.

He says that he’s noticed that adults spend a lot of time doing whatever they have to do to allow themselves to play, but they don’t like to call it play — that sounds childish. “But a lot of adult hobbies and interests and extracurriculars are just fancy ways of saying ‘I want to play,’” he said. He finds it a frustrating type of ageism that “we have to somehow make play seem more important by formalizing it.”

“Wouldn’t it be cool if we could relate to kids in this universal trait?” he says. “That we like to play just like them? Do we have to discourage it as play when that’s really what we’re often working to afford ourselves, is just the time to play?”

One of the things DIY.org does well is connect online and offline learning in an authentic way. But one aspect of DIY is done completely offline: the in-house workshops.

These workshops, the brainchild of workshop director Paul Long, happen at DIY’s San Francisco office and draw kids from the local neighborhood and beyond who come to make and create.

Paul is the definition of living your passion. “In another lifetime Paul would have built toys for Santa,” said DIY founder and CEO Zach Klein. “The workshops are really an opportunity for him to share his personal joy of making these things with kids. We leave it to him to delight.”

Toca Magazine asked Paul about his journey to DIY and his approach to working with kids.

Toca Magazine: What was your path to get to DIY?

Paul: I went to school in Louisville, Kentucky, for mechanical engineering. It was a five-year program and you received a master’s degree when it was all over. I was pretty miserable by the third year, but decided I was close enough to a degree to finish, so I did.

After graduation I wanted to get far away from engineering and so I worked a seasonal job at a place called the Outdoor School in Marble Falls, Texas. It was like summer camp meets the classroom. It was exhausting but I loved it. It made me realize that working with kids could be a thing that I do, and that even if I had zero discipline skills I really loved connecting with the kids and sharing my knowledge with them. After that I tried to get a “real” job and decided I might like product design because it felt more creative and used my degree. Fast forward a bit and that’s no good, either.

It made me realize that working with kids could be a thing that I do … I really loved connecting with the kids and sharing my knowledge with them.

I floated around a while, going to India for a few months and working with an NGO that I discovered by hooking up with this great nonprofit in Cincinnati called design impact. I felt like I wanted to work with kids, but also use my love of making and the knowledge I had slowly gained by figuring stuff out on my own, outside of school. My girlfriend at the time (now my wife) got a scholarship to the San Francisco Art Institute for printmaking, and so I started looking for jobs in SF.

I stumbled across this amazing job posting for Maker in Chief at a place called DIY. Everything about it sounded perfect. Making things. Working with and for kids. Sharing a love of making and trying and discovering. The job posting was about a month old, and the job was long gone, so I decided to make something to send to the co-founders of DIY to try and up my chances of working there, doing anything.

I researched (aka, internet stalked) Zach, Isaiah, Daren and Andrew and made each of them something I thought related to them in some way. Then I made a hand-crank box to ship it all in. They thought it was great (and slightly creepy) and I started doing contract work there, creating skills. A few months later I was hired on full time and when we moved to the new office (the one we’re in now) I started teaching workshops and running the physical market.Toca Magazine: The DIY workshops are pretty much a one-man show. What’s your process for choosing activities and planning workshops?

Paul: I choose activities that I’m interested in. I don’t necessarily have to know a lot of them, but I definitely have to be excited to explore them further and share what I’ve learned. I think that’s the best part of learning something: to get good enough to show someone else how to do it. It becomes a great way to be social, and I think that’s what’s great about in-person workshops, and DIY, too. It gives you permission to talk to other people, possibly even strangers. That can be hard in other situations, but if you’re making something together it can be a really relaxing and safe environment.

I think that’s the best part of learning something: to get good enough to show someone else how to do it.

I usually don’t go crazy on planning because I learned early on that plans and working with kids don’t mix very well. I try to create a couple of examples if I don’t already have a few on hand. Usually a basic, entry-level sample and something a little more challenging. There’s been a few times when I realize during the first workshop that I missed the mark, and so I’ll try and step off to the side and quickly make something that’s easier for the kids to connect with.Toca Magazine: What’s your approach to working with kids who get frustrated when things don’t go as planned?

Paul: That’s been really hard for me. I try and give hints and suggestions early on so kids don’t get too far along and hit a wall, but I don’t want to tell someone how to do something step-by-step either. Plus, some kids need to see for themselves whether or not something will work, and that’s great, but the workshops aren’t usually long enough to fail and then try again.

Some of the younger kids get frustrated because their physical skills don’t match up with their creativity, and that’s frustrating, too. I try to remind them that the frustration is part of it, and that I usually have to make something at least three times before I feel like I have even the tiniest grasp on it.

If a class is small enough I can usually run off to the side and really quickly cut a few pieces of cardboard and say, “OK, try using these instead.” Learning how to cut something precisely is important, but if it’s hindering a kid from getting to the next step, I’ll try and give them a boost.